


Rune

by Lepidopteran (inarticulate)



Category: Suikoden III
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-15
Updated: 2007-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 04:52:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inarticulate/pseuds/Lepidopteran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caesar sees something in Hugo beyond the Rune.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rune

A strategist's mind is always working: that was what he remembered his father saying over and over again. He left the rest to the tutors and to the books littering the manor; let them tame the son who had no interest in doing what he was supposed to. And Caesar _was_ thinking. He just couldn't make himself see how it would be relevant to any particular strategy.

He tossed the orb up once more and a hand snatched it from midair. He turned his head to eye Apple and got an eyeful of grass for his trouble. "Ow. Are you resorting to petty thievery now, my fine Apple? Who knew your financial woes had become so central to your life?"

"Caesar," she said simply, disapprovingly. She pressed the orb back into his palm; her fingers were cool against his skin. "That is not a toy."

He turned back up to the sky and tossed it again. "If it's not a toy, what is it?" He rolled it in his palm. "It's not a weapon, like this. It's not jewelry; unless you trap it in a wire cage for some reason, there's no way to dangle it around your neck like some kind of ugly, far-too-expensive display of potential power."

Apple's sigh was all-too familiar. "It's something to be used as it was meant to and not broken by the careless actions of a child." Her hand came into Caesar's line of vision, and he rolled over on his stomach. The orb dug a bit into his ribs, and for a bizarre, crazy moment, he wondered if it would absorb through his shirt and his skin, if Jeane were somehow unnecessary for this beyond her role as eyecandy. If all they did was slight of hand…

He sat up, then, facing Apple and letting her reach out to grab the fire orb before he could do anything else to it. "Have you ever done it?"

She met his eyes, and, for a long moment, there was only silence. "No," she said finally. "My-- I talked to someone about it, once. If you're curious, why don't you ask Jeane?"

Caesar dropped his gaze to the orb and shook his head. "Nah. I'm not that curious." He climbed to his feet and reached out. "Though I do advise you to seek elsewhere for the solution to your problems."

She rose more gracefully, brushing her skirts with her free hand. "As do I," she said without a trace of arrogance in her voice.

Caesar scowled and snatched the orb back. "I don't have problems," he muttered. "Apple, wait!"

She didn't turn around; she kept walking and he had to step fast to catch up to her. "Why are you following me, Caesar?"

"Aren't you my teacher?"

She snorted and reached over to flick his arm. "I thought you cut all ties to me when you took your position as Hugo's leading strategist."

Caesar shrugged. "I didn't say you had anything left to teach me about strategy."

"Hmm," she said, and veered sharply to the right so that Caesar was forced to stumble backwards to avoid being crashed into. In the process, unfortunately, his back met someone else, and they both crashed into a heap on the floor. Apple stopped and covered her mouth with a hand. "Oh, my apologies! I should have looked where I was going more carefully. Are you hurt, Hugo?"

"Such concern for your _student_, Apple." Caesar pushed himself up and found his wrists caught by Hugo's hands.

"_Are_ you hurt?" Hugo's face was amazingly readable; it was part of his charm and why he worked as well as a more experienced general would have, and currently it was etched with worry.

Caesar sighed and rotated his wrists gently to free them. "I'm fine," he said. "I believe Apple asked you the same question."

The worry dissolved into a laugh as they both stood, and Hugo tilted his head up at Apple. "A little fall like this isn't going to hurt me."

"Our general is indestructible." Caesar shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled with no real emotion in particular at Hugo's back. Apple caught his eye over Hugo's shoulder and frowned.

Unfortunately, or perhaps he had intended it all along, Hugo caught it as well. "Caesar…"

"You don't need to tell me," Caesar said, his voice flat. "I trust that you will take care of your own life."

Hugo turned his way, then, and Caesar lost whatever scathing words he might have been harboring to a wave of longing and, more strongly, fear. Strategists, he felt, were not supposed to feel fear. They were supposed to be able to view the situation from a distance, but with Hugo stepping closer his world was narrowing, and he finally closed the gap between them to wrap his arms around Hugo in an awkward embrace. "I'll be fine," Hugo said.

Caesar didn't say anything to that. He pulled back and took Hugo's right hand in both of his for a long breath. "Fine, is it?"

"We'll get it back," Hugo said, but he didn't sound strong anymore, just lost and childlike. "We'll get it back, and we'll win… right?"

"Honestly," Caesar murmured, "it's unlikely. The odds are way against us; they have all the runes, we don't even know where they are. Our scouts haven't reported back, and our time is running out. The wise thing to do would be to plan some kind of evacuation or building some sort of shelter, but our lack of information cripples us. Evacuation at this point may mean death, and I doubt any sort of conventional shelter will hold."

Hugo listened silently until he was done. "We'll find some way," he said. "We have to."

Something knotted around Caesar's lungs; he shrugged and smiled to mask it. "I hope you're right. The meeting is in two hours, and we'll pool our knowledge then." He should have left then. He had outlined the facts, he had given Hugo no false hope, and he had even managed not to completely extinguish the hope in Hugo's eyes. But he didn't. He stayed there, concentrating on getting enough air and trying not to watch Hugo's fingers ghosting over the top of his right hand.

"It chose me for a reason." Hugo's eyes unfocused and refocused on Caesar. "Right?"

Caesar shrugged. "I never concerned myself with the gods when men are so much more dangerous," he said, flippant. "But it can hardly be what defines you." He spread his arms. "What's important to this army is not what you have, but what legacy you've inherited."

"But I can't do anything without the rune." He didn't sound self-pitying, just thoughtful.

"Here," Caesar said, abruptly, and held out the fire orb. "Jeane can keep a secret. Keep your right hand hidden." He reached out to rest a hand on Hugo's shoulder. "What makes you valuable to me is your charisma and your ability to learn without letting arrogance rule you. The others are the ones who stupidly believe that a rune makes you someone different."

Hugo startled him by laughing again. "Thanks, Caesar," he said. "That wasn't what I meant, but thanks."

"It's what's important." Caesar tilted his own head in a deliberate echo of Hugo's body language.

Hugo's smile melted into something warm and intimate. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Go see Jeane," Caesar said, and he pulled back.


End file.
